Slogan | Parks & Resort |
---|---|
Location |
Salou, Catalonia, Spain |
Coordinates | 41°05′05″N 1°09′05″E / 41.08472°N 1.15139°ECoordinates: 41°05′05″N 1°09′05″E / 41.08472°N 1.15139°E |
Owner | InvestIndustrial |
General Manager | Sergio Feder |
Opened | May 1, 1995 |
Previous names |
Port Aventura Universal's Port Aventura Universal Studios PortAventura PortAventura |
Operating season | Spring through Winter |
Rides | |
Total | 36 |
Roller coasters | 8 |
Water rides | 4 |
Website | Official website |
PortAventura World (Catalan pronunciation: [ˌpɔrtəβənˈtuɾə]) is an entertainment resort in the south of Catalonia, in Salou, Tarragona, Spain; on the Costa Daurada. It was built around the PortAventura theme park, which attracts around 4 million visitors per year making it the most visited theme park in Spain. PortAventura Park is also the 6th most visited theme park in Europe. The resort will include a second theme park, Ferrari Land, from 2017 and also includes PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park and six hotels. It is the biggest resort in the south of Europe. It has two airports within 30 minutes of it, including Reus Airport. There is a train station for PortAventura which has connections to Barcelona and Salou.
It was conceived and built as a joint effort by a Spanish Consortium and Anheuser-Busch (Busch Entertainment Corporation). When some of the Spanish Partners left the consortium the Tussauds Group replaced them as investors, finished the development and became the first operators. In 1997, Universal bought up most shares in the park and the park was rebranded as 'Universal's Port Aventura'. In 2000, two hotels and a water park (Costa Caribe) were constructed, and the resort was further rebranded as 'Universal Mediterranea'. In 2004, NBC Universal (Universal Studios' parent) sold all interest in PortAventura. It is now owned and operated by La Caixa banking group's investment vehicle Criteria, but as of 2005 the Universal name has been dropped from the branding, and the resort was once again named 'PortAventura' (the space in the name is deliberately left out for trademark reasons). In December 2013 KKR picks up 49.9% stake in PortAventura from Investindustrial that still owns 50.1%.
The second theme park, Ferrari Land, was inaugurated on April 7, 2017.